The Border Collies

Jack

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Disclosures

Unless specifically stated otherwise in the individual post, beginning Nov. 1, 2009, every book read and "reviewed" on Books 'N Border Collies was purchased for my private collection or came from the public library system.

I am an Amazon Associate and some of the links in posts do lead to Amazon.

NOTICE: (Updated March 5, 2010)

Beginning December 19, 2009, Books 'N Border Collies will be posting but only intermittently while I pursue personal goals. I plan to share some reading I'm doing, but there will be no reviews. I will, however, be sharing my exploration of vegetarian cooking and the cookbooks and websites I use to educate myself. I hope you enjoy it!

Lezlie

Sunday, August 23, 2009

CRANFORD

by Elizabeth Gaskell

"In the village of Cranford, decorum is maintained at all times. Despite their poverty, the ladies are never vulgar about money (or their lack of it), and always follow the rules of propriety. This discretion and gentility does not keep away tragedy -- and when the worst happens, the Amazons of Cranford show the true strength of their honest affections." (From the CD container.)

That description makes the book sound much more somber than it really is. One could almost call this Victorian Chick Lit. I didn't think this would be my style of book at all, but it is on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list and was available at the library. I checked it out. I adored it! I love these women! I want to live in Cranford! And once again I have been reminded why I enjoy playing with the 1001 Books list.

Cranford is more a series of episodes focusing on the various inhabitants of the town than a plot-driven story, and the love of the narrator, Mary Smith, for her former home and its residents is clear right from the start. It's not fawning or smothering, but realistic and powerful in its quaint honesty. She understands the eccentricities of the town but can watch and tell in a less "involved" manner, and her anecdotes highlight the friendship, jealously, resourcefulness and fierce emotion among women that it takes another woman to truly understand.

If you're looking for an extremely accessible classic to pass a lazy afternoon, I couldn't recommend a better book than Cranford.

27 comments:

I have this book on my shelf and have tried to read it with no success, I watched the BBC version of the series a couple of years ago, have you seen that Lezlie?(Judi Dench etc were fantastic!)So the t.v. was wonderful , but the book I found hard, will try again sometime.I enjoyed your review.

Zetor ~ I'm surprised you've found it difficult to read. But then again, I listened to the audio book, so I can't really speak to the actual "reading" of it. I have not seen the BBC presentation, but I'll bet it's great!

Molly ~ Thank you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when you have a chance to get to it!

Eva ~ Weren't they great!! I loved Miss Matty so much! I'm glad you agree about the Victorian Chick Lit label. Since I'm not a chick lit reader, it felt a little presumptuous of me to call it that. :-) This will be getting a reread in the future for sure.

Bermudaonion ~ I hope you do! :-) Heather at 30+ A Lifetime of Books is having a read along in September, if you're interested.

Jenny ~ It's an easy one to use to make a little headway on that list. Some of them are awfully intimidating! :-)

Heather ~ You're welcome! I hope you get tons of participants! I'll be following your discussion on it for sure!

Marg ~ Is there more than one "Cranford" book? If so, I need to read the others!

Trish ~ I do have the spreadsheets, both the original list and the updated 2008 version. They're awesome! Do you have the 2008 version, with the newly added books and a separate list of the ones that were removed? If not, I'd be happy to send it to you!

I loved your review. I purchased the whole BBC Gaskell collection just recently. I love her work. I read them all years ago and it was fun watching the miniseries dramas. Cranford is a lot more light and humorous than Gaskell's other works in my opinion. I have been avoiding the list, but I may venture to have a look. I find it hard to remember which books I have already read in the past though.

Jemima ~ Thank you! And that is good to know about the rest of her work, otherwise I would be expecting more like Cranford. Her writing is so good, though, that I'm guessing I'll like most of her other stuff anyway. I put a whole slew of it on my Wishlist yesterday.

And, yes, "The List" can cause serious anxiety, but I mean that in the best possible way! :-) They're so fun to play with!

Petunia ~ I'm surprised so many people loved the BBC movie, but couldn't get into the book. Interesting. It's usually the other way around! :-) I wonder if it makes a difference which one a person does first, read or watch.

Short Works Read In 2009

This will include short stories, essays and poetry. I will mostly likely not post thoughts on every piece listed here, especially individual poems, but the ones I do write about will be linked. If you have any questions about any of them, feel free to ask! Every group of 10 short stories/essays will be counted as a single "book" in my final book count at the end of the year. However, none of these "books" will qualify for the initial 100 books in the 100+ Reading Challenge. I'm not yet sure how to count single poems. Let's see if I read enough of them to merit counting. If not, they're just good reading!

Short Stories:

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates (Read Online)"Hansel and Gretel" by The Brothers Grimm (Read Online)"A Report to an Academy" by Franz Kafka (Read Online)

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

In an effort to clean things up and make room for the massive list of books I will read this year (if all these Challenges have anything to say about it!), this list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and my progress can now be found from the link on my sidebar under "Ongoing Reading Projects". Or just click here! :-)